A Gluten Free Fall Favorite!

Many of my Facebook friends have seen my post on this one and the picture to go with it and have demanded that I put the recipe online.  So, here it is, my reciped for Pumpkin Cinnamon Cream Cheese Muffins!  These muffins are both Gluten free and Sugar free! I am big into cooking/baking improvisation so I will list the recipe but also put notes in to show you how exactly I did it.


Recipe:

Muffins -
1 1/4 Cup Almond Flour  *(I actually used 1 cu. Almond and 1/4 cu. Coconut flour to test consistency..turned out great!  You don't have to mix, however, to get a great product. I swear by Almond flour.)
1/4 Cup Flax Seeds
1 Can unsweetened Organic Pumpkin (or unsweetened reg pumpkin if you can't find organic)
2 Teaspoons Aluminum Free Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Nutmeg (I used Ginger here instead, which gave it just a hint of a zing.)
1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
2/3 Cup Stevia or Xylitol (DO NOT USE SUGAR!)
4 Large eggs, beaten
1/2 Cup water
1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla

Cream Cheese Filling -
1 8 oz pkg Whole Fat Cream Cheese
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla
1/4 Cup Stevia or Truvia
1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans or Walnuts (for topping)

Directions for Muffins:

-Pre-heat oven to 350 F
- Mix together all dry ingredients thoroughly
- Mix together all wet ingredients thoroughly
- Combine all wet and dry ingredients in large mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly
-Allow batter to stand for 10 minutes
-Separate batter into muffin tins in muffin pan.  Batter should yield 1 dozen muffins
-Bake for 15 minutes before adding Cream Cheese filling

Directions for Cream Cheese Filling:

-Allow Cream Cheese to acclimate to room temperature so that it is soft and pliable
-Once Cream Cheese is ready, place into mixing bowl with Stevia, Cinnamon, and Vanilla
-With stand alone mixer or hand mixer, beat together ingredients until whipped consistency emerges.  Taste test for sweetness and flavor,adjust sugar and cinnamon to desired taste.
-If you have a piping bag, place mixture in piping bag with metal spout.  If you don't have a piping bag you can use a ziplock bag (which I did!).  Just place all the mixture into a quart size zip lock bag, securely close the bag, forcing all of the mixture into one of the corners. Using scissors, cut the corner tip off of the bag and you'll have a homemade piping bag!

Piping Muffins:

-At the 15 Minute mark take the cupcakes out and use the handle end of an egg beater, meat fork, or any other kitchen utensil that you can find that will make a hole in the middle of the muffin. 
-Use utensil to put hole in middle of muffin.  While hole is visible, use the piping bag to pipe cream cheese into the middle of each muffin. You'll want to fill it to just overflowing so that you have some on top of the muffin.
-Once you have all cream cheese piped, sprinkle chopped pecans or walnuts over each muffin.  These nuts add a great extra crunch to the finished product.
-Place muffins back in the oven and back for approximately 5-10 more minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
-Take muffins out and allow to cool.  ENJOY!


This all may sound very complicated but I can tell you I whipped these up on the fly with 10 minutes of prep time and then actual bake time.  They are super easy and everyone who has had them thus far has fallen in love with them!